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Journals Offering Fee Waivers for Articles Related to COVID-19
Categories Medical news

Journals Offering Fee Waivers for Articles Related to COVID-19

Author krishna kumar 98 Comments on Journals Offering Fee Waivers for Articles Related to COVID-19 Posted on

Introduction

The virus spreading COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus. Not much has been known about the virus. Any accurate and authentic information about coronavirus and the related disease is of vital importance to the researchers. This information will help the researchers to tackle this pandemic more effectively. Articles published in journals are a great source of information on this new pandemic. Many journals have either reduced or have completely waived off the publication charges.

Journals Offering a Fee-Waiver for COVID-19 Articles

Many publishing houses that are into publishing the journals have waived off the article processing charges and set up a rapid review process for researches related to COVID-19. Some of these journals are:

1) PEERJ

PeerJ is one of the leading publishers of various research articles. The editorial board of PeerJ includes 5 Nobel Laureates. Started in the year 2011, it has 70000 researchers that have subscribed to PeerJ article alerts. It publishes research across 228 subjects.  PeerJ has 37.5 million views and downloads. Because of the immediate need for dissemination of information on COVID-19, PeerJ has decided to waive the article processing charges on articles related to COVID-19. For more information visit https://peerj.com/blog/post/115284882180/covid-19-full-fee-waivers-fast-track-peer-review/

2) AIJR PUBLISHERS

AIJR is the publisher of open access refereed journals and books. It publishes articles related to all areas of research and technology. AIJR is involved in publishing abstract books, peer-reviewed journals, thesis, dissertation, books, conference proceedings, open access, and academic journals. The articles published through AIJR must go through the peer-review process. To distribute high-quality information through a research article on COVID-19, AIJR is inviting submissions on COVID-19. The paper would be accepted and published for free as for invited submission, the article submission fee has been waived. For more information visit https://www.aijr.in/call-for-publications-on-covid19-impact-of-coronavirus-outbreak/

3) HINDAWI JOURNAL

Hindawi is a large publishing house that publishes 230 peer-reviewed journals. With headquarters in London, the publishing house publishes approximately 20,000 articles per year. It was founded in 1997 and is the founder member of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association. The article processing charges of Hindawi varies according to the journal. Hindawi has been offering a fast-track review process for the articles related to COVID-19 pandemic and have the fees waived if the article is suitable for publication. For more information, please visit https://www.hindawi.com/post/sharing-findings-related-covid-19-these-extraordinary-times/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=owned+referral&utm_campaign=HDW_COMR_GBL_AWA_TWTR_OWN_OSOC_BLOG_X_10113

4) FRONTIERS

Frontiers is a publishing house, publishing research articles in 600 different academic disciplines. The journals are peer-reviewed before publication, and the house has more than 1,00,000 researchers for peer-reviewing. It has an open science technology platform that also includes Artificial Intelligence Review Assistant. There are more than 500 million views, and downloads, and the articles published have more than 1 million citations. The publisher has waived the Article processing charges for the manuscript in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information visit https://coronavirus.frontiersin.org/

5) FACETS

Facets are Canada’s first multidisciplinary open access journals. Being a multi-disciplinary publishing house, it has various subject specialists to review the submitted articles. It has a partnership with various research organizations and helps them to disseminate the information. It publishes 20 technical and scientific journals. It publishes review articles, editorials, notes, perspectives, and science application forum papers. For the manuscript related to human epidemiology (COVID-19), the article processing charges have been waived by Facets journal. For more information, please visit https://medium.com/facets/waived-fees-for-human-epidemiology-manuscripts-5ab9283c0767

6) SAGE PUBLISHING

Sage publishing is the publisher of books and journals. The publisher is also into library products and suites including data, case studies, archives, and videos. It publishes more than 1000 journals, and 900 new books every year. It was founded in the year 1965. To provide accurate information related to COVID-19 at a faster rate, the research papers are reviewed on a fast track basis. The Sage publishing also announces to waive of article processing charges for research papers related to COVID-19. For more information please visit https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/press/sage-waives-article-processing-charges-for-research-related-to-covid-19

7) AOSIS

Aosis publishers publish various journals. The house has a peer-review process. Aosis has various services such as online publication engagement, plagiarism detection management, strategic development, and indexing services management. For the articles submitted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Aosis publications have announced to waive off the article processing charges. The publisher has also established a rapid review process to quickly publish the article for the immediate dissemination of information. For more information, please visit https://aosis.co.za/covid-19-apc-statement/.

8) BRITISH JOURNAL OF RADIOLOGY

British Journal of Radiology is one of the oldest scientific journals in the field of radiology. The journal has a long history dating back to 1896 and is known for publishing various landmark researches in the field of radiology. The journal publishes multidisciplinary articles related to radiotherapy, medical physics, and imaging techniques. To disseminate the information about COVID-19, the journal has announced to waive of all open access article processing charges and for rapidly reviewing the articles related to COVID-19. For more information, please visit https://www.birpublications.org/covid-19

9) BLOOD AND BLOOD ADVANCES

Blood is the journal published by The American Society of Hematology. The journal is published weekly with 52 journals a year. In the year 2018, the impact factor of the journal was 16.601. The journal is published every Thursday except in the last week of the year. The submission and publication fees for the research papers related to COVID-19 published in Blood and Blood Journals are waived. For more information, please visit https://ashpublications.org/journals/pages/covid_19

SANRA Tool for Assessing Narrative Review Articles
Categories Medical Writing

SANRA: Tool for Assessing Narrative Review Articles

Author krishna kumar 1 Comment on SANRA: Tool for Assessing Narrative Review Articles Posted on

Introduction

SANRA is a tool for improving the quality of narrative articles. The tool was developed in 2010 and has been revised to make it simpler. The tool allows the editor to judge the quality of the manuscript and the readers to identify the relevance. It should be incorporated while authoring the narrative review articles.

Narrative Review Articles

Narrative reviews form an important part of medical literature. In medical literature, narrative reviews have the largest share of text. There are two types of literature reviews, i.e. systematic reviews and narrative or non-systematic reviews. While various guidelines have been proposed for systematic reviews, there are no standard guidelines for non-systematic or narrative reviews. The absence of these guidelines poses a question mark on the validity and authenticity of narrative reviews. However, narrative reviews are considered to be important when it comes to influencing the doctors in research as well as in clinical practice. The narrative reviews identify and summarize the already published articles in a particular research arena.

Advantages of Narrative Review Articles

There are various advantages of narrative review literature, especially in medical research. Following are some of the advantages:

Comprehensiveness: Narrative reviews provide more detailed and comprehensive information about a particular topic. They also include the debate and current lack of knowledge.

Avoid duplication: By including several primary studies, the narrative reviews avoid duplication of studies performed.

Guide future research: As they provide information about the lack of knowledge in a particular area, they act as guiding light for future researches.

New medical intervention: Through the analysis of primary studies, they sometimes propose a new medical intervention.

Assessing Narrative Review Articles: SANRA

Although narrative review articles or non-systematic reviews play an important role in the dissemination of medical information, they are generally considered as non-authentic and unreliable. This is probably the reason that the non-systematic reviews are placed lower in the hierarchy of evidence-based medicine relative to systematic reviews.

The systematic review articles are critically analyzed based on various tools. These analyses significantly improve the quality of systematic reviews. The tools for assessing systematic reviews include AMSTAR 2 which is a measurement tool for assessment. Thus, there is a need for developing a tool for assessing non-systematic review articles that helps to improve the quality of narrative reviews at all levels.

To fill this gap in the field of the review article, Christopher Baethge, Sandra Goldbeck-Wood, and Stephan Mertens developed SANRA, Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles. The main aim of developing SANRA was to help the editors to determine the quality of narrative reviews, the readers to evaluate what quality of review they are reading, and to improve the authors in writing the narrative review.

The seven-item version was quite satisfactory in testing the quality of narrative reviews. It was concluded that the seven-item version of SANRA ticked the boxes in terms of internal consistency and reliability.

The scale was then revised into a 6-item version. Each item has a score from 0 to 2, 0 being the low standard while 2 is a high standard score. 1 is considered as the intermediate score. The maximum score a narrative review can achieve can be 12. The 6 items that form the part of SANRA are:

  1. Important to readers: This item determines whether a proper justification is given to prove the importance of narrative reviews to readers. If the importance is not at all justified then a 0 score is given.
  2. Aims of the narrative reviews: If the aims of the review or questions are formulated concretely, scores are given to the article.
  3. Comprehensive literature search description: If the search strategy is not provided in the article, a 0 score is given. The maximum score, i.e. 2, is given when the author includes the inclusion criteria and search strategy along with a comprehensive description of the literature search.
  4. Referencing: If the key statements in the review are included without any appropriate references, the score given is 0, while for key statements with references, score 2 is allotted.
  5. Scientific reasoning: Scientific reasoning is an important part of the narrative review. Without reasoning, the readers may not have any interest in the article and may question reliability and authenticity. If there is no scientific evidence, the score allotted is 0, while 1 is given in case of incomplete evidence.
  6. Appropriate presentation of data: The author should present the data completely and in the most appropriate manner. It may include the confidence intervals, absolute and relative risk, and data that help in analyzing the outcome.

A field testing was carried out to determine the internal consistency, item-total correlation, feasibility, validity, and reliability. All the three developers of SANRA rated the 30 manuscripts without systematic literature searches. These manuscripts were submitted to Deutsches Ärzteblatt in 2015. These ratings were given blindly and independently of each other. The SANRA should be incorporated while authoring and reviewing the narrative reviews, which are widespread in the medical literature. It will help in improving the quality of the article.

REFERENCE

Baethge C, Goldbeck-Wood S, Mertens S. SANRA-a scale for the quality assessment of narrative review articles. Res Integr Peer Rev 2019; 4: 5

Bastian H, Glasziou P, Chalmers I. Seventy-five trials and eleven systematic reviews a day: how will we ever keep up? PLoS Med. 2010;7(9):e1000326.

Plagiarism in Scientific Writing
Categories Scientific Communication

Plagiarism in Scientific Writing: Consequences, Identification and Prevention

Author krishna kumar 0 Comments Posted on

Introduction

Plagiarism is a serious concern in the writing world. The cases of plagiarism are increasing. Plagiarism has various consequences including the destruction of career, monetary penalties, and legal repercussions. There are various ways to avoid plagiarism.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is an act of copying someone’s work without giving any credit to the original creator. Plagiarism may be intentional or unintentional. In both ways, plagiarism brings bad name to the person who had plagiarized both on professional as well as the academic front.

Consequences of Plagiarism in Scientific Writing

Plagiarism is becoming a more common phenomenon in recent times. This increasing trend may be due to various reasons. Whatever the reason may be, plagiarism is a serious ethical and moral misconduct. In the arena of scientific writing, the readers require a continuous infusion of new, informative, and updated knowledge. Providing readers, a plagiarized material not only brings the writer in poor light but is also hamper the credibility of the editor and journal as a whole. Following are some of the consequences of plagiarism in scientific writing:

Serious dent on reputation: Writing a plagiarized content is considered as a serious offence among the intellectual fraternity. The academic reputation, professional reputation, and reputation as a student can be ruined because of writing plagiarized material. As a student, you might be suspended for the first offence and may be expelled for a subsequent offence.

Monetary consequences: There are monetary repercussions associated with plagiarism. The person who has written the plagiarized material may be directed to pay money to the original creator of the work.

Legal repercussions: There are strong laws in place to protect the rights of an original writer such as copyright law. Copyright law is strict in some countries and may attract prison sentences apart from monetary damages. So, as a writer, you should be aware of plagiarism and how to avoid them. You should not use the other writer’s work without citation and reference and within the ambit of fair use.

Failure in the examination: Some universities and colleges take the act of plagiarism too seriously and may expel the student or fail them in the class.

Thus, because of the serious consequences associated with plagiarism, the writer should identify and avoid plagiarism.

Identification of Plagiarism

As a writer, you should well-aware of various methods to identify plagiarism so that the corrective measures can be taken instantly. Following are some of the methods to identify plagiarism:

How much is too much: The writer should write the article completely in his own words. However, the writer must know how much copying of the content amounts to plagiarism and copyright infringement. Verbatim copying of a significant amount of content from an article amounts to plagiarism and copyright infringement.

Due credit not given: The writer should give due credit to the original creator of the content. If the work is copied and credit and references are not supplied, it may lead to plagiarism.

Paraphrasing: Avoiding plagiarism through paraphrasing is a grey area. Plagiarism is indicated when the writer not only uses some other’s words but also the idea, without giving credit to the original creator of the idea.

Google check: If you have to check the plagiarism for a small paragraph or few lines, this can be done with the help of Google. Just copy the paragraph or lines and paste them on the Google search. Do not forget to put a quotation mark in the starting and end of the lines to get the exact word match.

Plagiarism tools: Various free and paid plagiarism tools are available to check the plagiarism. These tools are quite powerful and also provide you with the services of rewriting the plagiarized content. Some tools also fix grammatical errors.

Avoiding Plagiarism in Scientific Writing

Avoiding plagiarism is one of the prerequisites of writing. Following tips may help you in avoiding plagiarism:

Understand Plagiarism: Before writing the article and checking for plagiarism, get a basic understanding of the acts that constitute plagiarism. This will help you to build a strategy for avoiding plagiarism.

Citation: Do not forget to cite the source from where the content is extracted. The citation should be proper and complete. The citation style should adhere to the recommendation of a particular journal.

Quotation: If you want to take the word as it is from a source, the quotation would be your best option. You can use the quotation marks at the start and end of the sentence to give a clear indication that these are not your own words. You can place a direct citation next to the quotation.

Always write in your own words: You should prefer to be a creator of original content. Use your own words in explaining a concept, idea, or disseminating any information. If you write in your language, there are very dim chances of getting into the trouble of plagiarism.

Accurate paraphrasing: Paraphrasing when done accurately may also help you in avoiding plagiarism. While doing paraphrasing, you should change the language, style, and tone of the original content.

Do not rely very much on plagiarism software: Although plagiarism software is of great help in preventing plagiarism they may also skip some content. So, try to be the original creator of the article.

Start early: Always schedule your writing in such a way to have sufficient time to research and write it in your own words. If the time is less, you may be inclined more towards copying and pasting someone’s work.

How Scientific Writing Service Providers Help you in Avoiding Plagiarism?

Scientific writing services company help you in different ways to produce a plagiarism-free content. They may advise you regarding the research and assist you in an effective and accurate paraphrasing. The service providers will also help you in correct citations and make good use of quotations. They may also run your paper on their paid plagiarism software to identify any plagiarism.

Safety and Preventive Measures during the Covid-19
Categories Medical news

Safety and Preventive Measures during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Author krishna kumar 0 Comments Posted on

Safety and Preventive Measures during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Posted by Siva Raman

Introduction

The healthcare system of the whole world seems to collapse because of the highly contagious SARS-CoV-2. Unfortunately, there is no treatment of the disease and vaccines are under development. In such a scenario, to follow the preventive measures to reduce the spread of infection looks prudent. There are various ways to stay away from the risk of exposure. These include isolation and quarantine, Personal Protective Equipments, social distancing, sanitization, and hand hygiene.

COVID-19: Highly Contagious Disease

COVID-19 pandemic has shattered the healthcare system, economy, and health of the people throughout the world. The initial cases of COVID-19 infection came in late 2019. In January 2020, the World Health Organization declared the disease as a health emergency of international concern. In March 2020, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. In February 2020, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses named the disease as SARS-CoV-2.

Studies have indicated that the virus has 79.5% similarity with SARS-CoV while its similarity to bat coronavirus is 96.2%. However, its highly contagious nature and the significant ability for human to human transmission is because of the high affinity of its spike glycoprotein towards ACE2 receptors as compared to SARS-CoV. Fortunately, the mortality rate of SARS-CoV-2 is less (3.4%) as compared to MERS (35%) and SARS (9.6%).

The infection is highly contagious and spread through person-to-person transmission. The infected person when sneezes or coughs, it results in the formation of liquid droplets containing the virus. Depending upon the distance of another person, these droplets either stick on to mouth or nose or maybe inhaled directly into the lungs. The spread may also occur when the person touches the places infected with the virus. The virus may also enter through contaminated aerosols and fomites.

Measures for Safety and Prevention of COVID -19

Currently, there is no proven effective treatment for COVID-19. Various pharmaceutical companies have directed their resources to come up with the treatment for this pandemic. Till the time the medicine gets available, it is important to implement safety and protective measures to prevent transmission of this infection. Screening may help in reducing the number of cases. Following are some of the safety and protective measures for COVID-19:

Hand hygiene: One of the most effective measures for contracting and preventing the spread of COVID-19 is enhanced hand hygiene. However, washing hands properly is also an art. Some people wash their hands without water while some use soap but wash hands for a few seconds. For washing hands, you should remove the accessories such as hand bands or watches. Wet the hands and apply soap on them. Rub the hands with each other for 20 seconds.

Sanitizing surroundings: The surroundings should be sanitized effectively and frequently. Lift, railings, and doorknobs have the potential to spread infections if they have been used by a COVID-19 patient. Sanitize yourself with as quality sanitizer if you have touched any surface which is accessible to the general public.

Social distancing:  Social distancing is an effective way to reduce the risk of transmission of infection. The droplets from the infectious person travel to some distance when the person talks, coughs, or sneezes. Maintaining social distancing may include the closing of schools and colleges and the suspension of occasions requiring public gatherings.

Avoid gatherings: People should avoid visiting the crowded areas as these areas are the hotspot for high transmission of disease. These include going to malls, theatres, or any public or private functions.

Personal protective equipment: Personal protective equipment, if worn properly, is an effective tool in controlling the transmission of COVID-19. People should wear masks properly according to the WHO, as the improper wearing of masks increases the risk of infection. Further, PPEs should be removed and disposed of as per the protocol.

Workplace measures: Effective measures should be implemented at the workplace to reduce transmission of COVID-19 infection. Social distancing should always be maintained, and employees should be advised to wear the mask. Sanitization should be done at the office.

Measures at hospitals for non-COVID patients: Proper safety measures should be implemented at hospitals for the patients who visit for getting treatment of the diseases other than COVID-19. All the areas and surfaces should be regularly sanitized, and the number of people at a time should be limited.

Stay at home: Staying home is the best method to avoid any risk of infection. You must go outside of your house only when it is necessary. Wear mask before going out and wash your hand and sanitize them properly after returning.

Avoid unnecessary touching: Avoid unnecessary touching of objects and surfaces at public places. These include railings, lift buttons, counter surfaces, and doorknobs. Always sanitize your hands after touching such surfaces.

Isolation and Quarantine: Isolation of the confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients is an effective method to control community spread of infection. Quarantine is different from isolation in a way that quarantined a person may or may not be infected but is believed to encounter an infected person.

Upgrading testing capacity: Increase in the testing capacity will help in isolating the confirmed cases of COVID-19. It will help in the reduction in the rate of transmission.

REFERENCE

Güner R, Hasanoğlu I, Aktaş F. COVID-19: Prevention and control measures in the community. Turk J Med Sci. 2020;50(SI-1):571-577. Published 2020 Apr 21. doi:10.3906/sag-2004-146

How to Avoid Procrastination in Scientific Writing Process
Categories Scientific Communication

How to Avoid Procrastination in Scientific Writing Process?

Author krishna kumar 1 Comment on How to Avoid Procrastination in Scientific Writing Process? Posted on

Introduction

Procrastination is the act of waiting to complete the work until the deadline arrives. Procrastination reduces the quality of the research paper. This is because the writer does not have sufficient time to research and write the article. Further, the time of review is also small and the risk of mistakes is high. Thus, while writing a research paper, procrastination should e avoided.

Procrastination

To procrastinate is natural. Every human, at least once in his life, had procrastinated. The reasons for procrastination are many, some are genuine while others may be an indication of extended laziness. Prolong procrastination have short as well as long-term implications. Whatever the reason may be, it significantly affects the quality of scientific writing. Writing a scientific article or research paper requires strong determination, proper planning, and sufficient time to review what has been written.

Tips to Avoid Procrastination in Scientific Writing

Various ways may help to avoid procrastination and will help you in writing a scientific paper more effectively. Following are some of the tips to avoid procrastination:

Planning for the future: Research paper writing is both art and science. Aim of writing a quality research paper is accomplished through proper planning. While planning for writing, do a comprehensive analysis of your strength and weakness. You should also plan about various tools required during the writing and what are your b=objectives for writing. This will help you in providing a clear vision for writing.

The right beginning is half work done: The work will never end if it is not started at all. You may be procrastinating because you have made various assumptions in your mind regarding your research paper, such as what if I may not be able to find good references or if the quality of my paper is not good, even before starting. Start writing your paper and you will know that most of the assumptions you have made were only assumptions.

Manage environmental factors: Writing a research paper requires deep concentration. For maintaining concentration for a long period, you should maintain the environment as per your requirement. For instance, you should choose a quiet place with cleanliness around. However, do not spend most of the time creating a productive environment.

Make a routine: It is very difficult to come up with a good quality paper without a strict routine. Make a schedule about when and how much you should write each day. You should know the time during the day when you are most productive. Strictly follow and stick to your plan.

Remind yourself of short and long-term consequences: Create positive pressure into your mind. Envision the immediate and long-term consequences if you are not able to complete the paper on time. It may be a public embarrassment, poor grades in the exam, or maybe a delayed appraisal or promotion.

Write in a question-answer form: Writing in a question-answer form may help in creating motivation for writing. Asking questions to the brain and answering them induces a positive energy flow. Write some questions and began to write their answers. Later, you may edit the answers as per your requirements.

Set your target for uninterrupted writing: Uninterrupted writing may help you to maintain your concentration. Maintaining concentration for longer improves productivity. You should set a time for uninterrupted writing. During this time, you should not answer any phone call or do not indulge in other kinds of stuff. You just write during this time.

Always challenge yourself: Always challenge yourself through various hurdles. If you have decided to write several pages or some words, try to go beyond them. Further, do not look or wait for a perfect time to start writing. You just start writing and you will experience that this was the perfect time you were waiting for.

Get the help of others: Do not hesitate to get help from others. These may be your friends, teachers, coaches, or research paper writing service providers. The help may either be related to your research topic, writing skills, or tips to prevent procrastination. You may also form a writing group.

Clear the blocks: Put some fun and techniques while writing the research paper. You may write the easy part first and once completed move on to the difficult part. Do not read what you have written, unless it is the time for editing and proofreading if you are highly insecure about what you have written.

Place the work in front of you: Come out of your imagination and place your work in front of you. If you are writing on the paper, take a pen and paper and start writing. If you are on a laptop or desktop, open the document and start working. Productivity results when imagination is materialized.

Held yourself accountable: Always remember that its only you and not the circumstances that are preventing you from writing your paper. As already said, there is no perfect time but you must make the time perfect with initiating your paper writing.

Think of the future rewards: Imagine the feeling you have once you have completed your research paper. The feeling may be of getting a good grade or an immense feeling of satisfaction. This imagination will boost motivation in you to complete your paper.

How Scientific Writing Services Helps in Preventing Procrastination

Scientific writing services help to manage procrastination. They help the scientific writer in solving the queries and infuses clarity on the topic of the research paper.  Further, they also help the writer in editing and proofreading of research paper which reduces or prevents the occurrence of mistakes.

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